“We don't have food. We don't have cooking oil. We don't have flour. So that is why we have to come here,” she said.

Venezuela is suffering from an acute economic crisis. Electricity supplies are low, and working days have been reduced to two days a week only.

Hospitals are said to be in critical need of supplies; some medical devices are broken; and a number of hospitals are even said to be running without enough water to wash away blood from operation beds.

Shortages have been so great and prices so high that looting has increased in Venezuela.

Since 2014, Venezuela has been grappling with protests against Maduro, with the opposition vigorously pushing for a recall election.

The Maduro government has denounced the opposition’s plans as a US-backed attempt to bring about a coup d’état in the country.

Maduro says the shortages in the country are also the result of an “economic war” started by the US-backed opposition.

Since January, an economic state of emergency, including rationing of food and other goods, has been in force in Venezuela.

The country is facing economic crisis largely because of the crash in price of oil, which is the country's primary export commodity.